{"id":21013,"date":"2019-01-24T17:14:44","date_gmt":"2019-01-25T01:14:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=21013"},"modified":"2019-01-24T17:15:55","modified_gmt":"2019-01-25T01:15:55","slug":"on-my-soap-box","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/on-my-soap-box\/","title":{"rendered":"On my Soap Box…"},"content":{"rendered":"

To be honest, I struggled to connect with our reading this week –\u00a0Global Evangelicalism<\/em> by Douglas Lewis.\u00a0 The disconnect wasn\u2019t a result of Lewis\u2019 writing style or his chosen topic.\u00a0 It had more to do with a heavy heart\u2026the government shutdown is on day 34 and there is no end in sight.\u00a0 Federal workers are caught in the middle of a manipulative ploy by our country\u2019s leadership and the byproduct is financial crisis for many Americans.\u00a0 And still, both sides of the political aisle cannot agree on how to end the shutdown.\u00a0 Also occurring in Washington DC, I was exacerbated by the clash at the Lincoln Memorial between students from Covington High School in Kentucky, Hebrew Israelite protesters, and Native American\/Indigenous rally participants.\u00a0 Who was \u201cat fault\u201d for the altercation?\u00a0 There is no clear answer, but the media, liberals, and conservatives are certainly trying to lay blame.\u00a0 Every time I pick up my phone or turn on the TV I see anger, disgust, name calling and fault finding.\u00a0 I have a strong faith in which I believe in a God who sent His Son to speak love, peace, joy, and salvation into a broken world (I am an evangelical).\u00a0 But I have to tell you, I\u2019m tired!\u00a0 I\u2019m tired from trying to apply my love, faith, and Biblical principles into my everyday life to understand and make SENSE of what\u2019s happening in this country (and around the rest of the world).\u00a0 And that is why trying to write about evangelicalism theology in Douglas Lewis\u2019 book falls flat.\u00a0 Instead I\u2019m choosing to focus on the evangelical faith and its response to refugees.\u00a0 Lewis notes in his writing that with \u201cits [evangelicalism] ability to localize and embed itself in new forms in diverse cultures, evangelicalism represents a powerful force resisting the homogenizing tendencies of globalization\u201d.[1]<\/a>\u00a0 But is that a good thing?\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure it is\u2026so hang on while I climb on my soap box\u2026<\/p>\n

Although literature could not be found to substantiate this connection, the Christian reaction to Jews before and during the Holocaust feels eerily similar to the current Christian attitudes towards refugees.\u00a0 One of the darkest times for Christians in the history of refugee acceptance and resettlement in the United States was during the rise of Nazi control and ensuing holocaust prior to and during World War II.\u00a0 Christians in America reacted to the massacres of Jews in much the same way that the general public did \u2013 initial horror and then silence.\u00a0 Instead of hurdling into action and taking a stand to combat the human rights atrocities, Christians became acutely aware of their own biases (from historical teachings of contempt towards Jews and Judaism) as evidenced by their lack of action.\u00a0 Christians personal prejudices and apathy had silently paved the way for the Nazi program of hatred, dehumanization, and genocide. The Christian belief that the Jewish faith was inferior and irrelevant proved to have tragic real-world consequences.\u00a0 It would be negligent to ignore the fact that some Christian individuals did champion the cause of protecting Jews during the holocaust.\u00a0 However, the entity of the Christian church did not.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also negligent to infer that every Christian reacts negatively to refugees today; however, there is a similar contempt and distrust for this population.\u00a0 Even though Somalia (a singular example which can represent many other oppressive countries), for example, is dealing with severe drought and starvation and an ongoing civil war, the United States is hesitant to help because of the complications and dangers of dealing with a terrorist group aligned with Al Qaeda. Hundreds of thousands of people have died.[2]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 And yet, the United States is actively orchestrating a decrease in refugee acceptance and resettlement\u2026 \u201cif the number of refugees worldwide remains the same as in 2016 and if few refugees enter the U.S. for the rest of 2017, the U.S. is on track to accept just 0.2% of the world\u2019s refugee population \u2013 far less than the historic average of 0.6%, and lower even than the share admitted in 2001 and 2002, in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks\u201d.[3]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 Many American Christians are championing this decrease in refugee numbers, citing their belief that it is not the responsibility of the U.S. to house refugees.\u00a0 A recent Pew Study found that Caucasian<\/u>, evangelical <\/u>Protestants are the most likely population to say that the United States \u201chas no responsibility to open its borders to refugees.\u201d\u00a0 The Pew study found that sixty eight percent of white evangelicals believed that the United States does not have a responsibility to house refugees, while just twenty five percent believe that it does.\u00a0 Fifty one percent of Americans overall believe the United States does have a responsibility to allow in refugees, while just forty three percent believe it does not.[4]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 It\u2019s an alarming statistic to see the national average of Americans (presumably all races, genders, ethnicities, and religions) are more open to acceptance of refugees than the white evangelical protestant. \u00a0Given the history of the nation and its proven record of oppression of minorities, perhaps it\u2019s not startling after all.<\/p>\n

Evangelicals (myself included), haven\u2019t we learned from our history?\u00a0 We were wrong to allow our biases to influence our response to Jews during the holocaust.\u00a0 Can you see that we are at a precipitous place today?\u00a0 Churches can and should learn and improve through their historical failures and missed opportunities to serve.\u00a0 Sometimes the motivation to serve refugees is external (pressure from fellow believers) and sometimes it is internal (personal conviction from God).\u00a0 It can be the result of social change, spiritual awakening, or intellectual exploration.[5]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 Whatever the motivation, there\u2019s no better time in history to commit to social justice for refugees and to truly be Christ\u2019s hands and feet in the world.\u00a0 Churches need to take risks, make themselves vulnerable and look for possibilities to serve and improve systems.\u00a0 There are local, national, and international opportunities.\u00a0 This is a global world.\u00a0 This is a global church.\u00a0 God is a global Lord.\u00a0 And I want to believe Douglas Lewis would agree\u2026<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Donald Lewis and Richard Pierard,\u00a0Global Evangelicalism: Theology, History and Culture in Regional Perspective\u00a0<\/em>(Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2014), 13.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Putnam, D., & Noor, M. The Somalis: Their history and culture (CAL Refugee Fact Sheet Series, No. 9). 1993. Retrieved from The Refugee Center for Applied Linguistics<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> http:\/\/www.pewglobal.org\/2017\/10\/12\/u-s-resettles-fewer-refugees-even-as-global-number-of-displaced-people-grows\/<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> https:\/\/www.vox.com\/identities\/2018\/5\/29\/17405704\/white-evangelicals-attitudes-refugees<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Wilson, Sarah Hinlicky. “Six ways ecumenical progress is possible.”\u00a0Concordia Journal<\/em>\u00a039, no.4, pg. 327<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To be honest, I struggled to connect with our reading this week –\u00a0Global Evangelicalism by Douglas Lewis.\u00a0 The disconnect wasn\u2019t a result of Lewis\u2019 writing style or his chosen topic.\u00a0 It had more to do with a heavy heart\u2026the government shutdown is on day 34 and there is no end in sight.\u00a0 Federal workers are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[620],"class_list":["post-21013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-lewis","cohort-lgp8"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/99"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21013"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21013\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21015,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21013\/revisions\/21015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}